Comparative Study of Gas and Liquid Flow in Packed Beds Using Phase‐Contrast MRI

ABSTRACT

Magnetic resonance (MR) allows imaging and mapping of parameters, such as flow or temperature of fluids, in optically opaque packed‐bed reactors (PBRs). Although velocity‐encoding MRI has previously been applied to the study of PBRs, most investigations have focused on liquid flow, as gas‐phase measurements remain challenging due to the low density and resulting low signal‐to‐noise ratio of gases. In this work, phase‐contrast MRI was used to map and compare qualitatively and quantitatively the flow of a hydrocarbon gas and water in fixed‐bed reactors, operated at comparable Reynolds numbers, at magnetic field strengths of 3 and 7 T. In addition, the same pulse sequence was applied in a second experimental setup to obtain temperature maps, setting the basis for future simultaneous flow and temperature measurements in optically opaque packed beds.